Old Friends

sure signs of summer: 

bluebird training in the back yard

Hackberry Emperor visiting the screen door

first appearance of the Autumn Meadowhawk

April Is Poetry Month

In Perpetual Spring

by Amy Gerstler

Gardens are also good places

to sulk. You pass beds of

spiky voodoo lilies   

and trip over the roots   

of a sweet gum tree,   

in search of medieval   

plants whose leaves,   

when they drop off   

turn into birds

if they fall on land,

and colored carp if they   

plop into water.

Suddenly the archetypal   

human desire for peace   

with every other species   

wells up in you. The lion   

and the lamb cuddling up.

The snake and the snail, kissing.

Even the prick of the thistle,   

queen of the weeds, revives   

your secret belief

in perpetual spring,

your faith that for every hurt

there is a leaf to cure it.

or a bluebird or lady's slipper

Blue at the Beginning and Blue at the Ending

Early this morning the bluebird thunked and thunked at the living room window, after hunting from my rearview mirror (which I know because of his "leavings" on the driver's door).  

Later, sleet fell -- several times.  Or was it hail?  Perhaps it was hail the first time, but then just freezing rain.

At 4, I walked out of the shop where I work and what I saw was miraculous: blue sky and sunshine.  The first of either since January 8.  In the car, on the way to a reading, I couldn't resist singing, "Blue skies, smiling at me."

Please, Mr. Bluebird, come again tomorrow and bring that sky back with you, OK?

Bluebird on My Shoulder

As a little girl, I saw and loved Walt Disney's Song of the South. At the time, racism was so deeply embedded as a daily norm in my life that I didn't blink at the portrayal of Uncle Remus as a stereotypical happy black servant of the Old South. Today, I know I'd be morally offended if I saw the film again.

But I still love one thing: the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" with Uncle Remus and the bluebird on his shoulder:

"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

"Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day, yes sir!

"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

"Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, feeling this way

"Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It is the truth, it's actual... huh?
Where is that bluebird? Mm-hm!
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!"

See a movie clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxYwwIL5zQ

In 1948, James Baskett, the actor who played Uncle Remus, was awarded an honorary Academy Award "For his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world, in Walt Disney's Song of the South."

I loved him and I loved the bluebird on his shoulder.

There are days when I wish he would fold me in his arms and tell me "ev'rything is satisfactual." In his absence, though, bluebirds do the same, metaphorically. They love my yard, where they spend chunks of the day sarching for worms.

My day started early this morning with a bluebird on my shoulder, and although I had to shoot his picture through a closed door, I was pleased to capture his early morning visit, promising me a "wonderful day."